I was recruited to the NPL by Kremlin (hi! I know you're out there somewhere) because way back when AOL was Qlink (more or less), I put up a profile that said I enjoyed cryptics. Kremlin (who wasn't Kremlin then, and can I tell you that I think his user name there was much more fun? Sure I can.) IM'd me in a trivia game to ask if that meant I enjoyed puzzles in general. He lured me into the NPL shortly thereafter, and probably was sorry for a long time afterwards because boy, did he have to mentor me before I could solve even the easier puzzles! (“COUNT, Melifer!”)

Despite the guesses of more than of one Krewe member, “Melifer” has nothing to do with honey. My real name is Miriam Elisabeth. My mother, bless her twice, hates the nickname “Mimi,” which is the traditional nickname for Miriam. So she combined parts of both names and created “Melly,” which has been confusing people ever since. To avoid certain noxious additions to the name, I went by Miriam throughout school. But when it came time to select a name to use on Qlink (these were the pre-AOL days), I went with Melifer. When Kremlin introduced me to the NPL, it seemed natural to stick with Melifer, since it *looks* a lot more puzzling than it is!

(I did toy with changing my nom to Pangelkg. I tested it out on a few people at the NYC convention. Only Philana instantly - and I do mean instantly - understood what it meant, but the overall reaction was lukewarm even when they did understand. Too hard to say, they told me. Now with noms like Ucaoimhu around… hmmm. :> )